> Cream rises to the top This comes close to associating some moral character to success, which is something I find dangerous. I think it is more helpful to s

> Cream rises to the top This comes close to associating some moral character to success, which is something I find dangerous. I think it is more helpful to say that these people had extensive networks among their leadership group and had experience and skills in management of people and situations, persuasion, and goal-directed achievement. Perhaps also darker skills which can lead to business success, such as intimidation, extortion, fraud, etc - I don't know to what degree any or all of those skills were present.